The concept of on-the-go sod harvesters that can in a continuous operation cut a sod slab from a sod field and stack the cut sod slabs on a pallet, which can then be transferred to a work site by another vehicle, are known in the art. Typically, the sod harvester includes a set of knives that cut a flat sod slab from the sod field. The sod slab, which may be formed into a sod roll or in some cases left in slab form, is typically elevated upward from the sod field on a conveyor that discharges the sod roll onto a sod transfer mechanism. The sod roll is subsequently transferred to a sod pallet for further handling. The sod pallet with a stack of sod rolls thereon can then be transferred to a work site where the sod rolls are removed from the pallet and applied to the field. Examples of sod harvester for on-the-go harvesting are shown in Tvetene et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,296,063; 6,783,318 and 6,364,027.
Occasionally, during the sod harvesting process a sod slab may be considered spoiled since the sod slab is unsuitable for use in sodding operations. When an operator encounters such a spoiled sod slab the operator may simply discard the spoiled sod slab by allowing the spoiled sod slab to fall to the sod field beneath the sod harvester. In some cases the sod slab may break up when it falls to the ground and in other cases the sod slab may remain intact. In either case the spoiled sod slab should be removed from the sod field at a later time.
If a sod slab breaks up when falling to the ground it becomes more time consuming to remove the spoiled sod slab from the sod field since the sod slab may scatter over a wide area. In addition a spoiled sod slab may also be run over by a wheel on the sod harvester, which causes further deterioration of the sod slab. Unfortunately, from time to time the presence of a spoiled flat sod slab or a spoiled sod roll, which has been run over by the sod harvester in an earlier pass, may also hinder the operation of the sod harvester during a subsequent pass. Eventually, the spoiled sod slabs should be removed from the sod field before the sod field can be replanted for the next sod crop.
The method of simply dropping a spoiled sod slab on the sod field beneath the sod harvester during the sod harvesting process has the advantage of producing a faster sod harvesting operation since spoiled sod slabs can be ejected on-the-go and without interrupting the sod harvesting operation. However, the in situ dropping of a spoiled sod slab may have the disadvantage of making it more difficulty and time consuming to subsequently remove the spoiled sod slab from the sod field since the spoiled sod slab in the form of either a flat sod slab or a sod roll may not remain intact when it falls to the sod field thus requiring greater effort to remove the spoiled sod slab or pieces of the sod slab from the sod field.
One of the prior art methods of dropping a spoiled sod slab from the sod harvesting process uses a laterally retractable bed that is displaced laterally so that a spoiled sod slab falls off the end of a conveyor and onto the ground rather than onto the laterally retractable bed which continues the loading of the unspoiled sod slabs unto a pallet or the like. Unfortunately, the use of a retractable bed usually requires a displacement of other harvester components or interrupting operation of the sod handling within the sod harvester thus increasing the complexity, size and the cost of the sod harvester.